Tait and Style
It gives me a real thrill to be sitting in this old schoolroom, overlooking the harbour of the small fishing village of Stromness in the Orkney Islands – and to be designing and making scarves, hats, and beasties that sail off to exotic locations all around the world: Paris, Tokyo, London…
There is a strong tradition of hand and machine knitting here in Orkney, and I also work closely with Shetland knitters – Fair Isle is just to the north of here, and Shetland comes next (then the North Pole!) But through my travels to various parts of the world I also stay in touch with current trends in fashion, and with the rich knitting and textile traditions to be found everywhere from Norway to Nara to New Mexico.
We use a wide range of techniques: hand and machine knitting, crochet, felting, fabric-fusion, embroidery… And we produce a wide range of designs, from rich, comforting, textural woollies, to quirky graphic designs – both elegant and humorous.
I grew up in Orkney, and after studying in Glasgow, Middlesex and at the Royal College of Art, I knew I wanted to come back here. It’s a special place, and it attracts special people: it is constantly stimulating to work with old traditionalists from the islands, and young revolutionaries on college placements! Everyone seems to click into the Tait & Style vision really well: to be bold, funky and above all fun.
Ingrid Tait
